According to entertainmentweekly.com, all eight of
the Harry Potter movies will start to be taken off
store shelves on December 29th.

It appears that the films will only be available
to buy through digital download.

the Harry Potter franchise has grossed more than $12 billion for Warner Bros.
This includes not only the films, but official Harry Potter merchandise like
the video games, action figures, and movie soundtracks.

Although this appears to be an official announcement, the question remains:
Is this really a good idea?

Famous films franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones still are around,
so why is Warner Bros. so eager to remove Harry Potter,
the #1 movie franchise of all time?

Warner Bros. has not yet released an official statement on this major newstory,
but considering the impact it will have on the Harry Potter fandom,
they will, likely, issue some explanation shortly.

A brand-new trailer for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 DVD
was just released online yesterday, and here it is, embedded into this news post.

Although it does show a lot of film clips seen in past trailers, (and in the film itself,)
it does show clips from a few, but not all of, the special features that will be included
with the film on Blu-Ray and DVD. (Although many of the features won't be on the DVD.)

One of the special features that was shown in some detail was the Maximum Movie Mode,
which is a special feature exclusive to Blu-Ray, and will not be on any of the DVDs.
The Maximum Movie Mode will feature interviews and behind-the-scenes clips,
and will be hosted by Harry Potter co-star and fan favorite, Matthew Lewis.
Matthew Lewis is known for the role of Neville Longbottom in several of the Harry Potter films.

One other notable extra feature is a conversation between Daniel Radcliffe and J.K. Rowling.

To watch the official Blu-Ray/DVD trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,
click on the video below! Deathly Hallows: Part 2 enters U.S. stores on November 11,
and in the U.K. on December 2nd.

In the interview, he was asked:Following LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4, what sort of things did you want to improve or expand upon?

"The first game was a different direction for LEGO, because we wanted to
create that experience of going to school, being a wizard at Hogwarts
and it was very light-hearted and jovial, like the first films are really."

"So for Years 5-7, the big change is that dark times are coming,
...It's about learning new magic that you're going to be able to take
and fight the forces of Voldemort with."

One other interview question worth noting in the lengthy interview was: LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 had the biggest hub world of all the LEGO games.Does that setting return, and have you amended it?

"What we've done for this game is make it bigger.
In the first game, you were in the walls of Hogwarts, and you could explore Hogwarts,
go off the beaten track, you could go to your lessons and your story events,
or you could go have a bit of fun.

We kept that, because that was such a massive positive.
And instead of just keeping it, we've expanded it. You can actually walk
outside of Hogwarts, you can walk to Hogsmeade Station, you can get the
Hogwarts Express, go to King's Cross, explore King's Cross, wander around London.

"We've actually linked it all up, so now it's not just Hogwarts, the whole Harry Potter
universe is there to wander round and explore. There's Hogsmeade and Hogshead,
and you've got the whole forest hub area, because obviously Deathly Hallows Part One
in its entirety is set outside Hogwarts, so we had to make sure we captured that."

This is all-new concept art from Pottermore.com
that was released online by Pottermore Insider.
(http://insider.pottermore.com/).
To the left is early development artwork for
the Griffindor house logo.
Secondly, here is the artwork for Ravenclaw,
which also is an early development sketch.

Here is how, according to Pottermore Insider,
these sketches were created:

"The artists started by talking about the best way to include the natural elements

of fire, earth, water and air into each house; what the best positions and expressions

for the animals would be; and the most effective way to include the house colors

in the final designs.

Their main aim all the way through the process was to make the crests into symbols

that Pottermore users would be proud to display as part of their Pottermore identity.

To start with, three versions were sketched for each house crest. The team then looked at each variation to make absolutely sure the details and attributes of each house were clearly represented.

The design they felt was the strongest out of the three was selected to go through to the next stage of the process, which involved adding color to the designs."

The retail price stands at $29.99, only $5 more then the Blu-Ray Triple Play pack,
which includes Blu-Ray, DVD, and a digital copy of the film, which is included here.
The only reason you'd want to pay $5 more is to get this 48-minute documentary,
"When Harry left Hogwarts". You can see a sneak peek of the video below.

Here is the all-new LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
character art that was released over the course
of the past month. These three images are likely
early pieces of C.G.I. character animation,
from when the game was in early development.

These pieces of art are (or were) used to help
re-create these characters for the game itself.

These pictures were provided by the offficial
LEGO Harry Potter facebook page.

As of today, The Order of the Phoenix News Network will be supporting
the No Bully organization to prevent any form of bullying,
weither it is cyber-bullying, or physical bullying, it is unacceptable.

So for all of October, in a movement to surpress bullying, and hopefully,
eliminate it where possible, we will be standing behind several anti-bullying
campaigns, including nobully.com.

Here is the description for the organization: "Each day an estimated 160,000
students in the USA refuse to go to school because they dread the physical
and verbal aggression of their peers, and the isolation that comes from being
the target of rumors and cyber-bullying."

One bully can ruin anyone's day. A world in which anyone can be a bully,
and get away with it, is even worse.

To coin a phrase: "They cannot take away our self-respect if we don't give it to them."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
has now earned $379,268,754 in the U.S. alone,
and totals $1.3 billion dollars worldwide.

A very impressive total, and it continues to slowly gain
even more money, although it is now clear that,
after almost 3 months, the last Harry Potter film is finally
on its last legs. It looks like it will soon end up with $1.4 billion,
and then leave theaters, just in time for the Blu-Rays and
DVDs to be released next month.

A future post will be made when the film
finishes its long and fruitful run.

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